THON 2013: By the Numbers

While some numbers in THON are obvious, such as 46 (hours) and 710 (dancers), there are some that aren’t so obvious. Here are 13 numbers you might not have known about THON 2013.

4 – Adam Krempasky has the first Four Diamonds tattoo I’ve ever seen. Props to him for showing incredible dedication to a cause that means a lot to him, while dancing in THON 2013 and representing the Murphy family and IST THON.

6:00 – Despite other reports, the doors to the BJC were officially closed at 6 a.m. on Sunday, according to R&R Overall Chairperson Mike Wellner.

17 – Will Martin, the THON Overall Chairperson, was recently featured as “Crush of the Week” in Seventeen Magazine. Martin was given the honor by the magazine’s love editor, and PSU alumna, Devin Tomb. With the honor, Martin is in a class which includes Justin Bieber and Robert Pattinson.

300 – There were over 300 Four Diamonds families that participated in THON weekend, most notably the Teddy Morton family, the Dustin Beaver Family, the Trent Golden family (shoutout to Trent and his little brother Michael for soaking me with water guns on Friday), and the Emily Whitehead family, who all spoke during Family Hour.

700 – From 6 p.m. on Friday until 4 p.m. on Sunday, DJ Larry Moore played over 700 songs. This includes the line dance, which of course was played 46 times.

9,061 – The hashtag #THON13 was used in 9,061 tweets over the week leading up to, and including, THON weekend. The hashtag trended nationwide on Saturday morning and in multple cities throughout the weekend, including Hong Kong.

$14,200 – Men’s Basketball coach Pat Chambers donated $14,200 to THON for all the students that attended the home basketball game against Iowa the night before. Chambers gave a great speech during pre-THON and presented the check to the Finance Overall Chairperson, Jen Stipa.

16,451 – There were 16,451 people that accessed the event floor through the PASS system over the weekend. This includes all the Four Diamonds families, press, and dancer guests.

40,000 – There were 40,000 bottles of donated water and Gatorade distributed over the weekend, to go along with 15,500 inches (1,291 feet) of donated Subway subs eaten. All in all, that amounts to 18,500 servings of donated food distributed to captains, families, and dancers.

$86,500 – While THON accepts donations year round (DONATE HEREnow. DO IT.), the official fundraising window for students opened in October, 143 days before the total was revealed. This means that, on average, over $86,500 was raised every day, and over $60 was raised EVERY MINUTE!

207,521 - The live stream on THON.org was viewed by a total of 207,521 people throughout the whole weekend. It peaked at 16,433 viewers during the total reveal on Sunday.

$559,358.48 – Atlas FTK raised the most money of any organization EVER, beating their own record (set last year) by $190,000, and raising an astonishing $321,000 more than the second place independent organization, Ohana. (They also win the “Best Harlem Shake” award.)

$12,374,034.46 – The record-breaking amount raised after all funds had been calculated. This year’s donation helped push the total amount donated by Penn State to the Four Daminds Fund over $100 million.

About Author

Alex Robinson is currently a staff writer for Onward State, and also holds the (made-up) position of Sports Editor Emeritus. He's lived in Harrisburg almost his whole life, but he says he's from California -- where he was born -- because that's more fun. He loves cats and Chinese food, but only separately. He met both Ben Affleck and Kanye West within a half hour, so the three of them are basically best friends. If you want to hear his #scorching #hot #takes, you can follow him at @ARobinsonPSU or email him at [email protected] (please email him, he needs someone to talk to).